I'm working on a vertical Ideal engine. The coil was open in the secondary and no spark. After a 150.00 quote to rewind the coil, I started thinking. Seperated the laminations and measured them. Found a Briggs magnamatic coil was close. Bought a new Chinese replacement off ebay for 24.00 including shipping. I've got spark now. I'm always accused of being a hoarder but when my buddies need something, where do they come look??

I get the same from my neighbors. When I am in full-on project mode in the summer with parts hanging to dry, they barely say hello. But just wait until something breaks. Then I'm the long lost friend in need of a beer. Oh well, at least they bring a peace offering.

I rarely throw anything out. There is always another use for something. I am kind of a junk collector and should get rid of some of the stuff I have. I have lots of electrical parts, computer parts, radios, speakers, audio equipment for parts, scrap wood, glass salvaged out of old windows, plastic sheets, lots of steel I have either picked up off the road or found in garbages, wiring pulled from miscellaneous things, good spare tires I've found along the road or other places, exhaust systems( got a VW muffler on my PK), city truck plow edges( on my V plow) , engines of different sizes, motors from washing machines and other, I stripped all the gas pipes out of a house I wasn't sure what was going to happen to it.
There was a car that crashed near our house and when they cleaned up they left the bumper so I grabbed the fog lights out of it and used them on my PK for a while.

Before I got my truck I rode a bicycle as transportation and wherever I went, I looked at the ground. I picked up nuts, bolts, washers, wires, springs, lead wheel weights, wheels, clips, rubber straps, ratchet straps, change, rubber grommets, and steel. I even found an electrical tester and a 8 square per side rubix cube. When I took a bicycle trip to PA I saw quite a few things I wished I could have picked up. Some things I remember are aluminum truck loading ramps, a pile of ratchet straps which I did stop and hang on a sign so someone else might grab them and chrome semi truck hubcaps for containers and other uses.

I save the nuts and bolts when I am at the junkyard.
I reuse broken drill bits. When I redid the bed on my truck I reused the wood and built the new one with basically no added material(maybe one 2x4 and 10 screws).
I reuse zip ties and sometimes electrical tape. I sewed patches on my leather boots to keep them together for a while longer and used Shoe Goo and cloth as patches for my rubber boots. We have a dish set I found in the garbage. I've got a fan in the shop I found in the garbage that just needed rewiring.
I used old containers from the house for nuts, bolts and holding various liquids and old engine fluids.
People give us broken stuff and my bother fixes the electrical stuff and I fix the mechanical stuff. Matter of fact the laptop I am on right now was diagnosed with a bad mother board and my brother had it working in a few minutes and it has worked flawlessly for over a year now. We have been given and fixed two of our TVs, one receiver, clocks, and many other things(tape players, CD players, etc). We are kind of known for fixing everything. I once used my leatherman to file a key that was made wrong and didn't work and in a couple a minutes I had it working great. (I think I was a little lucky on that one:D)

But when it counts I normally go for the high quality things like tools, machines,and audio equipment.

Back about 8 years ago I was leasing a marina and renting out slips. There was a 54' Cris Craft sunk at the dock. called around and everyone wanted thousands to raise it. So I decided to do it myself, I went around the boat floating in a tube armed with a T-50 staple gun and pieces of plastic sheeting, I covered all the port holes that were broken and all the planked sideing that had broken, it had holes everywere due to the fact that in the winters the cove would freeze trapping this monster in the ice. Only 2' of the boat was above water and old wooden boats and ice don't mix to well. So anyway after doing the sealing the next day I had 2 old trash pumps 1 was a 3hp briggs the other was a 5hp briggs. I set them up and started pumping. while I did this so many people stopped (even the fire chief) everyone laughed and said I would never raise that boat with those 2 little pumps! Well guess what after 6 hours of running and boat staying at same depth the hole time, I heard a strange creaking noice, then all of a sudden the boat litteraly popped out of the water like it was shot from a cannon! That was such an awesome thing to see! Anyway, I just love when people tell me "Oh that can't be done" wish I had a dollar for everytime I got it done! lol.( people are to negative and give up to easy)

I like to call myself the king of scrounge. I built a 24' x 48' pole barn with materials reclaimed from an old fertilizer barn. The inside walls are 2" x 8" boards all the way from the ground to the bottom of the homemade trusses. I also got the sheet metal from the barn, all free. I had some volunteers come over with scrap wire to do the electric and the floor is milling from the highway. I covered the entire outside with sheet metal and my only expense was the gravel millings, screws and some nails. my friends gave me their left over wire and I have even been given a 9' door and a utility walk through door. All totalled with electric, gravel floor, metal exterior walls and wooden interior walls, I have a whopping $1,000 invested in this building. The insurance company came out and insured it for almost $20,ooo.

I rarely throw anything out. There is always another use for something. I am kind of a junk collector and should get rid of some of the stuff I have. I have lots of electrical parts, computer parts, radios, speakers, audio equipment for parts, scrap wood, glass salvaged out of old windows, plastic sheets, lots of steel I have either picked up off the road or found in garbages, wiring pulled from miscellaneous things, good spare tires I've found along the road or other places, exhaust systems( got a VW muffler on my PK), city truck plow edges( on my V plow) , engines of different sizes, motors from washing machines and other, I stripped all the gas pipes out of a house I wasn't sure what was going to happen to it. There was a car that crashed near our house and when they cleaned up they left the bumper so I grabbed the fog lights out of it and used them on my PK for a while.

Before I got my truck I rode a bicycle as transportation and wherever I went, I looked at the ground. I picked up nuts, bolts, washers, wires, springs, lead wheel weights, wheels, clips, rubber straps, ratchet straps, change, rubber grommets, and steel. I even found an electrical tester and a 8 square per side rubix cube. When I took a bicycle trip to PA I saw quite a few things I wished I could have picked up. Some things I remember are aluminum truck loading ramps, a pile of ratchet straps which I did stop and hang on a sign so someone else might grab them and chrome semi truck hubcaps for containers and other uses.

I save the nuts and bolts when I am at the junkyard. I reuse broken drill bits. When I redid the bed on my truck I reused the wood and built the new one with basically no added material(maybe one 2x4 and 10 screws). I reuse zip ties and sometimes electrical tape. I sewed patches on my leather boots to keep them together for a while longer and used Shoe Goo and cloth as patches for my rubber boots. We have a dish set I found in the garbage. I've got a fan in the shop I found in the garbage that just needed rewiring. I used old containers from the house for nuts, bolts and holding various liquids and old engine fluids.People give us broken stuff and my bother fixes the electrical stuff and I fix the mechanical stuff. Matter of fact the laptop I am on right now was diagnosed with a bad mother board and my brother had it working in a few minutes and it has worked flawlessly for over a year now. We have been given and fixed two of our TVs, one receiver, clocks, and many other things(tape players, CD players, etc). We are kind of known for fixing everything. I once used my leatherman to file a key that was made wrong and didn't work and in a couple a minutes I had it working great. (I think I was a little lucky on that one:D)

But when it counts I normally go for the high quality things like tools, machines,and audio equipment.

Now thats being frugal!!

That sounds like an idea for a whole new thread: What did I do with my Leatherman(gerber,SOG,Etc.) today! I couldnt count the times that my Leatherman was the only tool I used on a furnace repair call, usually at least $60.00 or more, gotta love those multi tools:thumbs:

Wow, I thought I was somewhat thrifty but you guys definately take it to a higher level than me. The best i've done was to take 4 junk carbs and made one to fit my kohler. A strait pipe was made for a small fraction of the cost of a muffler. Now the neighbors don't have to wander what i'm doing, they all hear me!!!

I look like a free spender compared to most of these guys! I build what I can in my garage from "stuff" I have collected, found and been given over the years. I built a custom winch mount for my Cub 129, so I could use a button to lift the snow plow. I am now working on an electric angle system for same from stuff I have.

The headlights on my '99 chrysler minivan finally match. A couple of years ago my wife hit a deer (or vice versa) and broke loose the front end(mostly plastic) and busted the headlight on the drivers side. She made it to the nearest gas station (she was on her way to her sister's in Iowa) bought some duct tape to hold up the front end(gotta love her for that) and away she went. When she got back home a few days later I used a bunch of tie wire and some screws and the front end is still in place today. I also priced a new headlight (about 300 bucks) so instead I went to the salvage yard. Only one available was out of a Dodge caravan. I bought it, put it in,re-wired it, (dodge uses a single bulb for high/low beams, chrysler uses 2 bulbs). This last weekend my brother backed into the other side with his pick-up truck, and busted the other (passenger side) headlight. Went back to the salvage yard today and bought another dodge caravan headlight for 20 bucks. Found one with the bulb still in it. I have about 240k miles on the minivan and she still runs great. I use it to drive to work.

I have used the salvage yards several times to upgrade my existing car stereo. Being frugal, I found that a used stereo that was a nicer grade than what was in the used vehicle when bought it would always fit, without modification. Of course this was back when sometimes all you got was an AM radio or AM/FM. Now cars all seem to have AM/FM CD etc.

The best experience was my 1989 Dodge RamCharger. I loved that truck. It came with only an AM/FM radio. I found an upgrade at a local junkyard. When I arrived, they said it was not out of the donor truck yet. They offered to let me go with them into the yard, to make sure it was the right one. After determining it was the right one, I watched how the yard employee expertly removed the dash, then the radio, without any damage. I took the old one out and put the "new" one in without a scratch just as I had seen it done. I saved money and learned something.

It may sound stupid but me buying a couple garden tractors and getting them running was my way of saving money.
I wanted to buy a gator or side by side of sorts then when I realized that wasn't going to happen due to shear cost and my campaign of wanting to be debt free
So I thought ok well I get a quad mind you my main purpose for wanting either a gator or quad was to work with hauling wood and tow the splitter around and just odd and in things, give the kids a ride
When I started pricing quads and again the unwillingness of going in debt and making payments came back into picture I said well I'll just use the ole craftsman.
My friend had a John Deere 140 he had bought and had been sitting for years when he bought it then a few more years after he got it. I had wanted it ever since he bought it but he never would sell I got lucky one day and finally convinced him to sell. A little cleaning up and oil changes and tuning up I got what I needed and since have bought another little garden tractor The 140 has worked out for everything I wanted it for and the kids enjoy the rides too
So now for around $600 dollars cost of mower and various parts I've bought I have a great utility vehicle for a fraction of the cost of a gator or a quad I guess it's not the most creative but it's one I can think of right off hand

I've always been frugal (CHEAP), but I've stepped it up since my accident... being on a fixed income with questionable check delivery and all. I'm always keeping an eye out for free steel, or other bits that I can use around the shop. Craigslist is a big help, along with plain old word-of-mouth. A few years ago I was able to bring home a pile of heavy wall rectangular steel tube from work, all of it about 1x2" and 40-45" long. So far I've used some of that to make a lawn mower lift (like the $240 MoJack at TSC). I built the whole deal for the cost of a piece of threaded rod... everything else was scrap. About a month ago I used more of that steel & some other scrap and built a T-post puller, just like the $50+ ones commercially available. Didn't cost me anything. I'm working on plans for an aluminum can crusher now.... again, using scrap I have on hand. I'm a huge fan of re-purposing things, from old nuts & bolts to vehicle parts to household stuff. Use it up, wear it out. Make it do, or do without.